Rarely has a Nottinghamshire derby held quite so much anticipation as the one being staged at One Call Stadium on Saturday.

Notts County make the short trip along the A60 to face Mansfield Town knowing they could go six points clear at the top of League Two with three points against the Stags, having cemented their position at the summit with a convincing 3-0 success at Exeter on Tuesday.

Both clubs under relatively new managers in Kevin Nolan and Steve Evans made significant changes to their squads over the summer, though it was Evans who achieved the greatest amount wheeling and dealing.

Stags boss Steve Evans (Image: Dan Westwell)

Signing 14 new players in the summer had seen the Stags installed as promotion favourites and they’d started the season well until the wheels came off somewhat at Cheltenham in midweek with a 3-0 defeat.

Read More

The Magpies have won six games in a row to surge to the top of the league but haven’t beaten their rivals at Field Mill since a 3-2 success in 2005 and will likely face a team fired up by controversial boss Evans.